The life of St Ethelburga was characterised by courageous action in the face of devastation. When the plague came to her doorstep in Barking, Ethelburga gave her nuns a choice: close the doors and pray, or open the doors and serve the community. They chose to serve, even knowing that many of them would die as a result. Ethelburga is our inspiration for putting spiritual values into action in challenging times, for bringing faith and action together as one.
In 1993, the IRA detonated a bomb on Bishopsgate, almost completely destroying the church. Yet vision, creativity and commitment ensured that ten years later it opened its doors once again in a new incarnation – as a Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. For many, St Ethelburga’s has become an iconic symbol of the opportunities for growth and evolution that are hidden within crisis and conflict.
Our Bedouin tent was built as a response to 9/11. The tent is welcoming to all, bringing Eastern architecture alongside the Western heritage of the church. It is a space without hierarchy where differing perspectives can be explored. Reflected in the fabric of our building, this theme of diverse narratives and belief- systems co-existing fruitfully, side by side, is present within all our projects.
St Ethelburga’s is one of London’s most enduring church buildings. An 800-year-old church site, it has stood for centuries as consecrated ground. Now, surrounded on all sides by development works, skyscrapers, and the economically-driven activity of the City, St Ethelburga’s remains true to its ancient purpose. We continue to offer a space for connection with the sacred, with the natural world, and with our deepest human values.
This year’s open day is a special celebration of the 20th anniversary of St Ethelburga’s Bedouin Tent. Built in 2006, the Tent has become a distinctive part of the Centre’s life and a powerful symbol of dialogue and peace in the heart of the City of London. Join us to celebrate this milestone, discover the story of St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, and learn how the Tent has been used over the past two decades to bring people together across difference.
Visitors can register for a drop-in visit or book a place on one of our guided tours.
During your visit, you will be able to explore St Ethelburga’s through an audio tour that brings the building’s history to life, learn about its transformation from a medieval church into a Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, visit our peaceful courtyard garden, and step inside our Peace Tent.
Guided tours will focus on celebrating 20 years of the Peace Tent, introducing visitors to the Tent’s design, symbolism and history. The tours will also share the wider story of St Ethelburga’s, from its historic building and post-bomb rebuilding to its contemporary work in peacebuilding, reconciliation and will include a short shared contemplative practice in the Peace Tent at the end.
To register for a drop-in visit or book your guided tour, please visit our Open House Festival listing here.
As part of the guided tour, we will offer a taster of our monthly contemplative practice, giving visitors the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the Tent. This short shared practice will offer a calm and reflective way to encounter the space and to connect with the values at the heart of St Ethelburga’s work.
Families, children and curious visitors of all ages are welcome to take part in our Peace Tent Treasure Hunt. This activity will encourage participants to look closely, discover details of the space, and engage with the themes of peace and history of the space.
The Open House Festival is a citywide celebration of London’s architecture, neighbourhoods, and the communities who shape them. Every year, thousands of buildings and sites across all 33 London boroughs open their doors to the public — free of charge. From iconic landmarks to hidden local treasures, the festival offers a unique opportunity to explore the city in new and unexpected ways.
St Ethelburga (died c.675 CE) was the first leader of a monastic order for women in England. Having refused an arranged marriage to a pagan prince, she was banished to a nunnery by her brother, Erkonwald who later became Bishop of London (Bishopsgate, where St Ethelburga’s Centre now stands, was named after him.) She proved to be a natural leader and became the first Abbess of the great Benedictine Abbey at Barking in Essex, one of the first religious houses for women in the country. She is especially noted for her heroic conduct in caring for the sick during an outbreak of the plague in 664 which eventually killed her and most of her community. During this time she is said to have had a vision of a light “brighter than the sun at noonday” which inspired her and her community to carry out works of great compassion in caring for others. The Venerable Bede wrote of her: “Her life is known to have been such that no person who knew her ought to question but that the heavenly kingdom was opened to her, when she departed this world.” In the Anglican calendar her feast day is October 11th and we have a service around that time to commemorate her life. For us, she epitomises a strong woman who exemplifies the virtues of leadership and commitment to social action even to the point of self-sacrifice.
St Ethelburga’s is one of the few surviving medieval City churches in London. Many were destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666 or the second World War. The foundation date of the church is unknown, but it was first recorded in 1250 as the church of St Adelburga-the-Virgin.
The church was rebuilt around 1411 and some of this fabric, notably the south arcade, remains.
In the 17th Century two shops were erected in front of the church, serving as an early example of ecclesiastical social enterprise. It was not until 1932 that these were removed when Bishopsgate was widened and the original facade of the church restored to view. A small bell tower was added in 1775. Miraculously, the original bell survived the 1993 bomb and has been rehung.
During the 19th Century the furnishings of the church were changed at least twice, reflecting shifting styles of worship.
The church was re-ordered once again in 1912 by Ninian Comper, but none of his furnishings now remain. In the 1930’s St Ethelburga’s achieved notoriety as one of the few churches in which divorced people could remarry, in defiance of the Bishop’s strictures.
The church suffered minor bomb damage during the Blitz of the Second World War and was repaired in 1953.In 1954, the church lost its parish to St Helen’s Bishopsgate and became a “Guild Church” until 1991, when it became a “Chapel of Ease” to St Helen’s and was used for storage.
On Saturday 24 April 1993, the South Armagh Brigade of the IRA detonated a bomb in a tipper truck loaded with almost a ton of fertiliser, parked right outside St Ethelburga’s.A coded warning was phoned from a telephone box in Forkhill, near Newry, at 9.17 and the bomb exploded at 10.30, sending a huge coloumn of smoke above the City. One person was killed, photographer Edward Henty, and about 40 people were injured. Damage to the surrounding commercial buldings, including the NatWest tower – then Europe’s tallest building – was massive and 500 tonnes of broken glass were eventually removed.
The damage caused by the bomb cost £350m to repair. The huge payouts by insurance companies contributed to a crisis in the industry, including the near-collapse of the world’s leading insurance market, Lloyd’s of London.The bomb targeted the neighbouring commercial buildings, but 70% St Ethelburga’s was destroyed and it was not insured. There was considerable disagreement about what should happen to the ruins of St Ethelburga’s.It was the vision of Bishop Richard Chartres, the then Bishop of London, that it be rebuilt and serve a different function.
The building was formally re-opened by Prince Charles and the new Centre for Reconciliation and Peace commenced its work in 2002.